Borfo Battleboots
|Row 2 title = Age |Row 2 info = Unknown |Row 3 title = Place of Birth |Row 3 info = Mountains of Dun Morogh |Row 4 title = Clan |Row 4 info = Battleboots |Row 5 title = Title(s) |Row 5 info = *Shaman *Soldier *Union Representative *Union Organizer |Row 6 title = Affiliations |Row 6 info = *Dun Morogh Miner's Union (Current)The Miner's Union was previously named the Miner's League of Dun Morogh, affiliated with the Khaz Modan Miner's League, though the names are usually interchangeable. **Miner's Union of Kharanos *175th Pike Formation (Past) |Row 7 title = Political Ideology |Row 7 info = Dwarven Unionism |Row 8 title = Status |Row 8 info = }} Borfo Battleboots is a Bronzebeard Dwarf shaman, soldier and elected committee chair to the Miner's Union of Dun Morogh. He also acts as an advisor to the Unified Dwarven Senate for all matters relating to industry and the unions. He has been heavily active within the union movement in Dwarven society for hundreds of years and as such is usually well known by Dwarves, though not by outsiders unless they're well versed in the internal workings of dwarven unions. Appearance Borfo Battleboots is a stout and stocky dwarf. Short, for a dwarf, and very wide, Borfo isn't very unusual, though he definitely isn't the norm. With eyes that are a mix of reddish-orange, and a very tanned, almost dark skin, one might mistake the dwarf for a half-dwarf between a dark iron and bronzebeard. The dwarf is usually clad in a set of green clothes, his green shirt, and gloves are well fitted, yet his dark green trousers are cut at the knee. His most memorable feature is a well kept green pointy Brewfest Hat. In terms of weaponry, Borfo has given up on conventional weaponry, instead opting for a piece of wood with a nail through it, and a very small shield. Lately, the Dwarf has taken to wearing a simple chain mail helm. It, of course, follows his color scheme and is green. History Early Life Borfo was born sometime ago, none aren't really too sure when, not even other Battleboots. The stories say that Borfo just sort of appeared and was taken in by the rest of the clan. By the time Borfo joined the clan he was old, even by dwarf standards, and well traveled. He became famous in this large clan by telling stories spanning history. Battleboots Militia Borfo served in his clan's militia, the 175th Pike Formation, helping to fight against troggs, kobolds and other threats to Khaz Modan. He fought in the militia as a pikeman, wielding a twenty foot pike. The militia was mostly involved in small skirmishes with local trogg outbreaks in the mountains of Dun Morogh. During his time with the militia he rose to the rank of captain, commanding over two hundred men at one point during their anti-trogg operations. Borfo eventually became restless serving with the militia, which led to his leaving of the militia around 430 K.C., spending the next fourty years or so traveling and doing various odd jobs until he discovered the Kharanos Miner's League. Kharanos Miner's League In the fall of 470 K.C., Borfo became involved with the miners of Kharanos, spending the next few years working the mithril mines. It was during this time that Borfo saw the dangerous conditions his fellow dwarves worked in for little pay, all the while the owners of the mines, so called Mithril Magnates, enriched themselves. This enraged the dwarf, and pushed him into openly embracing the local Miner's League. While all miners are members of their local leagues, it's another issue entirely whether they embrace it and become involved, or if they just trust their representatives to keep them safe. In 473 K.C., Borfo saw how political apathy had taken over the membership of the League, and because of this he jumped headfirst into leadership. In 474 K.C. he began giving speeches and trying to motivate the local miners. This had some success, as he was elected to become the local league's chairman. After his election he began pushing to replace local mine stewards and began coordinating with the local Smith's Guild. Over the next eleven years he continued organizing, raising awareness and the consciousness of the fourty or so thousand mine workers, and through his organizing, raising awareness with dwarves of other unions in the area around Kharanos. Tension continued to rise as dwarves began slowing down their work, purposefully, to demand better pay and conditions over the course of these eleven years. Things came to a boiling point in 486 K.C. when the renegotiation of their guild contract resulted in the League voting to authorize a strike, the vote succeeding with ninety-seven percent yes, and three percent no, with a turnout of around ninety-three percent of all league members. As negotiations continued and stalled, Borfo began threatening a strike, telling the Magnates that they would strike if their demands weren't met. As the winter of 486 bled into 487 K.C., the negotiations were still ongoing, with the Magnates not offering concessions. As such, in February of 487 K.C., Borfo Battleboots declared a lockout of all mines and declared that they would strike until massive concessions were given to the union workers. Thus began the Strike of 487 K.C. Strike of 487 K.C. The strike, organized in mid-February, would involve a lockout of all mines across Dun Morogh, thousands of workers had been organized in the weeks leading up to the strike, and a massive strike fund was compiled, with thousands of gold pieces flowing in from throughout the Kingdom. As the lockout began, the dwarf began organizing committees of workers to oversee the strike. Firstly, every local mine had a committee formed, and all small towns and settlements had a committee formed to oversee relief, from there, these committees formed regional councils, that elected members to a national council to oversee relief and the strike across Dun Morogh. However, to avoid any sense of authoritarianism within this strike, it was decided that all committees would be rotated every three weeks, with the national committee changing every month and a half, though Borfo was selected every month and a half to stay on the national committee by an overwhelming majority. Four other dwarves were selected as well,The four other dwarves were Avreth Platespine, Motmegit Longtank, Abrod Coalgut, and Dalozamli Bluntbelly though Borfo was the main figurehead for the strike. and stayed on this committee over the course of the strike. Mid Life Connecting with the Elements Reorganizing the Miner's Union The Strike of 478 was a massive victory, however their victory would not last forever. While the Dun Morogh Miner's League was empowered, others were picked away, through the use of infiltration, the Miner's League of the Wetlands, and Loch Modan broke away from the unified Miner's League of Khaz Modan, each choosing to go at it alone. This hurt the Dun Morogh miners who had worked hard for unity, yet they were not fully broken. Instead, they took their Miner's League, choosing to reform it as the Dun Morogh Miner's Union, a new entity that would unify all dwarven miners. Led by Borfo, the Miner's Union elected different tactics, previously, miners were organized into two groups, skilled and unskilled. Unskilled miners were the majority, who mined the copper, iron, and other 'lesser' metals, the skilled miners were those who worked even further underground, mining gold and mithril. These two groups were organized into two different leagues, though they were unified by the Dun Morogh Miner's League. Instead, Borfo merged the two together, so mines would now have more unity. Taking lessons from the strike, he also instituted councils and committees, elected by membership, to represent the workers. These local committees would then report to regional committees, who would report to a national committee.National in the sense of being across all of Dun Morogh and not national in the sense of the entirety of Khaz Modan Like their locals, the regional and national would have rotating leadership, with regional committee members elected from each local, and national from the regional. Rules were also placed down to put limits on how many terms a person can serve on a committee.With no exception made, committee members can only serve two successive one year terms, before they have to wait fifteen terms before they are eligible to serve again. Each of these committee would have a rotating chairperson, who would serve for a set amount of time. The amount of time a person served as chair depended on how many members served on that committee. In Kharanos, for example, there were fifteen members on the local mine's committee, therefore, each member of the committee would serve for about 24 days as the chair, before it was passed to another member of the committee. Present Day Leaving Khaz Modan For once in his life, Borfo has done the odd thing of leaving his home. He has decided to travel, spreading the word of Dwarven Unionism in an attempt help organize workers across the rest of Azeroth. His first stop has been the city of Stormwind, however he´s run into a problem, he speaks not a lick of common! However, with the aid of his brother, nephew and some helpful folk he meets he hopes to raise awareness to the plight of workers. As he entered Stormwind he was met by a massive culture shock, the city wasn't what he expected and as he wanded around he had no luck in finding those he could speak to. Eventually, however, he did run into a mage by the name of Elaynna Slate. The young mage had a knack for languages and could speak and understand Dwarvish, leading her and the older Battleboots to become quick friends after he helped her with a study she was doing. Dwarven Senate and Gilnean Hallow's End Festival (October 628 K.C.) ]] At the behest of the Speaker of the Dwarven Senate, Borfo as a representatitve of the Miner's Union of Kharanos, represented all unions during a discussion on a vote about whether each union should have a vote. This would mean that each union (the Explorer's League, the Miner's Union, etc.) would each have one vote to use by an appointed representatitve to the Senate. As expected, however, the Thanes and Senators assembled cared not for the voice of the people, and overwhelmingly voted the measure down. With only one senator voting in favor for the measure. Annoyed by the ineptitude of the Senate, Borfo left Ironforge, heading north to Gilneas for the final day of the Gilnean Hallow's End Festival. It was here the dwarf was able to cool down, meeting two new acquaintances, Egrin Oakstump a Wildhammer, and Meren T. Young, and seeing an old friend in the form of Elaynna. It was also here that he spread some pro-union literature to a few Gilneans, though none of them could understand it. Stormwind Job Market (October 628 K.C.) After the events of the previous day, Borfo traveled to the Stormwind Docks, working with local dockworkers in their attempts to unionize. During the process, he came across the Stormwind Job Market, and during it met Thoghli Ramheart, the Thane of Clan Ramheart. As the two spoke, they talked about the last Dwarven Senate meeting, and while Thoghli couldn't go, Borfo got him up to speed on the events that transpired. As they spoke about many topics, it was discovered by Borfo that Thoghli would support various union measures, and that Thoghli was running for the position of Stone Envoy within the Senate. Hearing the vision Thoghli had for Ironforge, Khaz Modan and the Alliance, Borfo decided to support the dwarf's run for Stone Envoy and promised to get him the support of the Miner's Union. Disputes (October 628 K.C.) Over the last few centuries, the Dwarven Thanes and Senators, while relying on the unions immensely, also worked to disrupt them to keep their own hegemony. As such, the once powerful Miner's League of Khaz Modan was torn apart, with the unions being splitnered and localized by region. Borfo wished to change this. In October of 628 K.C., he began this change, with members of the Miner's League of Dun Morogh meeting with their counterparts in Loch Modan, signing a pact of mutual assistance, to organize and work together and in the future merge together. A Chance Encounter (December 628 K.C.) After a day of speaking to the dockworkers of Stormwind in mid-December of 628, Borfo and his nephew (who translated for him) were enjoying a bit of down time in a pub near the docks. During this downtime he was approached by Vannesyra Smith, a noble from Varland, the woman approached the dwarf and engaged him in conversation, in dwarvish on the subject of unions and what his goals were in the docks of Stormwind. Shamanism The story goes that Borfo Battleboots discovered his connection with the elements about midway through his life as a Battleboot. Though some in the clan have argued that he's always had this connection and simply never showed it. Borfo, however, has always countered this claim, claiming that instead the elements reached out to him sometime after the Strike of 487 K.C., and wished to aid him in some form, in response for him aiding the elements and by proxy, Azeroth. Political Thought Dwarven Unionism Borfo is a staunch unionist which (until recently) has kept him at odds with his younger brother, Bodad Battleboots. The dwarf strongly believes in the rights of the union in Ironforge society and advocates, sometimes violently, for their rights. While the event has fallen out of the public eye for being so long ago, Borfo was well known some two-hundred years ago for leading a Miner's Strike across Dun Morogh, which saw some fifty-thousand miners and another twenty-thousand other union workers go on a mass strike for some two months. Borfo works hard to organize workers into councils and committees, advocating away from the current method of union organizing. This current method sees union chairs and representatitves being appointed by union leaders, who themselves are voted in by the membership of the union. Borfo wishes to see all positions be changed to a system where all positions are voted on by the membership, and unions are led by councils who are rotated out frequently. Along with this, Borfo pushes against the idea of guilds within Ironforge society, instead seeing the need for unions where all workers, skilled and unskilled, can be organized. Affiliations Current *Miner´s Union of Dun Morogh Borfo has always been involved with the Miner's Union of Dun Morogh, he was the main organizer of the union in the prelude to the Great Strike of 487 K.C. Before the strike, the Thanes and Senators of Ironforge had been fighting to ensure workers weren't organized. These bosses used violent tactics to scare organizers, all the while cutting pay and sending Dwarves into more dangerous working conditions. As the strike happened, Borfo began organizing these workers, joining them in their strike and helping them form the Dun Morogh Miner's Union. To this day, he's been involved with the union as a central committee member, helping to guide the direction of the union. *Earthen Ring Ever since discovering his affinity to the elements, he's been actively involved with the Earthen Ring. Though he didn't leave Khaz Modan, often or at all, he still assisted the Ring from within the Dwarven lands in the subcontinent. Past *175th Pike Formation The 175th Pike Formation was a unit of the Battleboots Militia that served Khaz Modan, and the Bronzebeard Clan for hundreds of years, dating back to the War of the Three Hammer. Memorable Quotes Dwarvish Common "Aye" - ''Borfo, saying the only word he knows in common. Notes ''Borfo is tagged as Argent Bulwark due to player's connection to the Bulwark. Category:Characters Category:Dwarf Category:Bronzebeard Dwarf Category:Shaman Category:Argent Bulwark Category:Miners